Italian pride
After the first three GPs of 2026, the Italy that loves motorsport finds itself living a daydream. ‘Our’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli is in fact the leader of the world championship standings after having achieved success in the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix and seems ready to compete for the title with his teammate George Russell, certainly more shrewd and experienced than him but who for the moment in the standings looks from behind the 19-year-old from Bologna.
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The question that intrigues all the fans in the Circus, Italian and otherwise, is whether a young and inexperienced driver like Antonelli will be able to withstand a head-to-head with his garage mate over the distance, keeping the championship contest open until the end of the season. In this regard, while applauding the results achieved so far by Mercedes’ #12, the former Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya has expressed more than one doubt.
Skeptical Montoya
The 50-year-old from Bogotá – who in 2003 came quite close to winning the World Championship, but was then beaten by Michael Schumacher in a spectacular three-way sprint that also included Kimi Raikkonen – speaking to the site Casinostugan has crushed Antonelli’s ambitions: “I don’t think Antonelli will become world champion. When he starts to realize he is leading the standings I think the pressure could get the better of him, because he is very young and has never experienced a situation like this before“.
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“It is much easier to be the hunter than to be the prey – added the former Williams and McLaren driver – so, if you are the prey and start being beaten again, you could go into a tailspin and start to collapse, making various mistakes”.
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